So for my reflective post I've found a news story that looks at what they call 'Generation @' or 'Generation Myspace', which is quite simply, you and I (The MySpace Generation). I have always had a fascination with how the older generation's perceptions of youth and how they so happily group us all into the one clump of technology fanatics. This article, does just that.
The introduction consists of about 3 paragraphs where it describes the setting of Amanda Adam's dorm and the endless amounts of technology she is using in her life. It then goes on to talk about the networking organisation titled 'Buzz-Oven' that Amanda is involved with, which basically uses strategic marketing and networking to inadvertently advertise up and coming bands.
Then the divisions are highlighted, the statistics about how many hours teens spend online, socialising, surfing the net and networking. Apparently we are so consumed and mesmerised by the internet that we are forgetting how to communicate face to face???
"experts think they're already creating new forms of social behavior that blur the distinctions between online and real-world interactions"
In regards to this statement, yes and no....we do use abbreviations and certain phrases online which transfer into our everyday lives, however I personally have never seen anyone who forgets how to communicate in the real world? It is something that is engrained in us and I think the thing that is being overlooked is just that today's youth have been raised to adapt very quickly to change. We are taught to speak to our family at birth, simple things, we are then taught to communicate more formally with strangers like teachers and store cashiers and then we have a computer thrust in front of our faces and we adapt to communicating via a totally different medium. We adapt so easily to new mediums that we can transfer skills from one to the other, why should this be ridiculed?
It goes on to discuss how the creation of Buzz-Oven was a successful way to reach their intended target audiences. Aden Holt created the site in order to help advertise concerts. It allowed youth to join the group and write on the wall for it, uniting those with similar interests. They seemed to like the fact that they were being publicly acknowledged for what they were doing and therefore did volunteer advertising work, in order to have their name up there. When they were asked, they said they liked that what they said wasn't censored and that they "let them do their thing".
In regards to using the internet as a savvy form of advertising, it appears as though teens have been onto it for a while, whilst the adults are only now just starting to latch onto how much easier it is to reach youths through the internet as opposed to more traditional media forms.
Personally, I think what I gained from this article was that Generation @ or whatever you want to call it, are just like a filtering system of their own. We choose the sites we want to be associated with and the content we want to promote. We don't have to regulate a number of sites trying to find what we are looking for, because the market comes to us. We are the ones doing the spending and browsing, so the market is designed to reach us most effectively. It is effectively tailor-made for us. That's why sites such as Buzz-Oven are created, because the younger generations are the ones who are going to make things happen, we are going to attend the concerts, buy the cd's etc.
Basically as we continue to quickly adapt to the fast-paced lifestyle of this century, we become more and more comprehensive of different mediums and we remember what they offer. The internet is a hit because it offers what we want, we can filter it so that we are associated with specific groups and excluded from others. In regards to being a technology dominated generation, yes we do use it a lot, but we are still just as capable to revert back to traditional methods of communication. It's just that when something is added to the world's inventory, we learn how to use it, assess whether it is going to benefit us and then adapt to it. Whereas older generations are much less willing to have a go. That being said, there are huge amounts of parents getting involved on facebook at the moment, so I think they're slowly coming round to it!
So that was my reflection! I hope you guys were lol'ing and rofl'ing at some of the stuff but now i gtg but ill bbs with another blog, TTYS!
lol, good work Jaquie. I like your last paragraph, talking about something new being added to the world's inventory, learning to use it and then assessing whether it's going to benefit us. You could liken that to when the automobile was first invented. It took people a fair while to get used to the idea of them, and for many years most people thought it was a fad that would soon go and people could once more have peace and quiet on their roads for bicycles and horses and carriages. Instead more and more people tried it, worked with it, expanded it's use and now it's an everyday item for many people that they don't think about.
ReplyDeleteI have a grandma kicking on 93 who went to her local learning annex and learned how to use the internet. She doesn't have a FaceBook page but she has been known to send around an e-mail now and then. lol. The internet is here to stay, so it's now up to the individual how much they want to get involved with this new technology, but within a generation or so I wonder how many people that have regular access to the internet won't use it?